Geosharing applications

15-20 years ago, from the very beginning of the penetration of mobile communication into our lives, the most frequent question that was asked at the beginning of the dialogue on a cell phone was: “Where are you?”

Surprisingly, even after such a large amount of time, the question of the current location of the interlocutor remains the most popular, despite the fact that users began to make less audio calls and use more instant messengers, using mostly text chat.
')
I offer Habr readers an overview of geosharing applications, in which you can find out the current position of the interlocutor without the question “Where are you?”.



1. Real-Time GPS Tracker 2



The Real-Time GPS Tracker application allows you to mark yourself on Google Maps and share this information with your friends in real-time .

There is a function of geofensing (at the entrance and exit from a certain zone, a notification occurs) and tracking (the traversed route).

There are also such interesting features as displaying the charge of the phone and outputting the sleeping phone to the active mode by sending SMS (it saves battery power - the geolocation mode on the phone is activated only after receiving the SMS).
Some features are paid.
The application works only on Android devices.

2. Glympse - Share GPS location



A very simple application - you send a link and the other side can see your position by simply clicking on the link - you do not need to install anything to view.

3. GPS Tracker by FollowMee



In addition to geoshing there is a function of geofensing, notification of low battery, etc.
An interesting feature is that when there is no Internet, it accumulates tracking data and sends it to the server when the connection is restored.

4. Life360 Family Locator



Life360 is one of the leaders of geosharing applications.

Positioned as a family social network - in addition to geosharing there are chats in the application.
Users add each other to circles, adjust the location of schools, offices, houses, and when they appear in these places, members of such circles receive messages.

Some functions in the application are paid; for the year, the Life360 revenue is $ 20 million.

Unfortunately, due to the Telegram blocking, since spring 2018 this application does not work on the territory of Russia.

5. Find My Friends



Find My Friends - Apple's geosharing application.
Accordingly, it works only on iOS devices.
One of the oldest geosharing applications - the first version appeared in October 2011.

6. Google

The corporation has a geo sharng function as well.
Google Maps is used.
Works on Android and iOS.
With its help, you can make a geosternig in other programs.

7. GPS Phone Tracker



Standard application with geoshering functionality.
Of the features - storage tracking movements within 72 hours.
8. LocaToWeb - Real time GPS tracking



LocaToWeb is ideal for cycling, jogging, hiking and all kinds of trips.
In addition to geosharing, it can show the duration of the trip, the distance, the speed and the height above sea level.

9. ZoeMob Family Locator



Of the interesting features of ZoeMob Family Locator is a built-in instant messenger and the ability to see the speed of monitored users.
When speeding (for example, when moving children on a school bus), a message arrives.

10. GPS Tracks by Dmorneault



Another paid geosharing application for iOS devices.
There is an accelerated reproduction of saved movements.

11. Open GPS Tracker



Open GPS Tracker is another geoshering application, the code is laid out on Github .
Allows you to save tracks in GPX, KMZ formats and attach multimedia messages and text to them.

12. Hoverwatch



Hoverwatch is essentially a spyware application that allows you to track not only the geo-location of the monitored device, but also messages in instant messengers, SMS, etc., in the invisible mode.
Cost - 19.99 dollars a month.

13. Telegram and WhatsApp





The geosharing function is the same in both messengers - you can fumble your geo online for 15 minutes, 1 hour or 8 hours.
Apparently both use standard features from Google.

14. M1 Messenger



Our M1 Messenger ( Android and iOS ) completes the review.

In the messenger, there are two geosharing functions - Users side by side and Remote geo-location request.

Users near

In M1 Messenger, users cannot communicate with each other until one party makes a request to another, and the other does not approve.
But when you turn on the Users beside function, you can see the distance to other users who have this mode also turned on at this moment.
You will not see exact coordinates, only distance.
When you turn off the function, you become invisible again.
It can be useful if you are somewhere in a foreign city or country and want to know something.
Well, or for dating, if you see that the user is close with you, for example in one cafe:



Remote query geo-coordinates

In any chat you can turn on the remote query for the coordinates of the interlocutor, and he can at any time make a Request and get a map with your location:



A small life hack - if the user is not online and you do not receive coordinates, then you can make an audio call for a few seconds to wake up the application and then make a geo query.
At the same time, on the other hand, the application can always be in sleep mode, thereby saving the battery.